Natural resources modulate the nexus between environmental shocks and human mobility

Brottrager, M., Crespo Cuaresma, J., Kniveton, D., & Ali, S.H. (2023). Natural resources modulate the nexus between environmental shocks and human mobility. Nature Communications 14 (1) e1393. 10.1038/s41467-023-37074-y.

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Abstract

In the context of natural resource degradation, migration can act as means of adaptation both for those leaving and those supported by remittances. Migration can also result from an inability to adapt in-situ, with people forced to move, sometimes to situations of worse or of the same exposure to environmental threats. The deleterious impacts of resource degradation have been proposed in some situations to limit the ability to move. In this contribution, we use remote sensed information coupled with population density data for continental Africa to assess quantitatively the prevalence of migration and immobility in the context of one cause of resource degradation: drought. We find that the effect of drought on mobility is amplified with the frequency at which droughts are experienced and that higher income households appear more resilient to climatic shocks and are less likely to resort to mobility as an adaptation response.

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